Texas agency a no-show at EPA hearing on permit takeover

Emission opponents praise feds; state says effort futile

Published 6:30 am, Friday, January 14, 2011

DALLAS — For several hours Friday, it sounded as if all Texans are in favor of the EPA's plan to regulate greenhouse gas emissions in the state.

That's because the opposition — the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, in particular — skipped the Environmental Protection Agency's hearing on the federal takeover of some permits for new power plants, refineries and other large industrial facilities.

The EPA seized control of the greenhouse gas permits last month because Texas is the only state that has refused to implement new nationwide rules for emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases. Texas officials, arguing that the federal regulations will harm the state's economy, have brought a series of lawsuits to block them.

At the hearing in a hotel ballroom, Al Armendariz, the EPA's regional administrator for Texas and five adjacent states, said the federal agency prefers to let the state issue the permits, as it does for other air pollutants.

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"This isn't a program that we want to implement for years," Armendariz said. "We want the state of Texas to take ownership of it, and we are ready to work with the TCEQ. However, at this time, those discussions have not begun."

In a statement, the TCEQ said it didn't attend the hearing because the state agency's position "has been clearly articulated to the EPA and well documented in several pending court cases."

"Our attempts to reason with EPA and efforts to have constructive discussions on our position and their authority under federal law have been ignored," the statement said. "We look forward to pursuing our position in the court system and we are confident that science and the law will prevail."

Texas has failed three times in the past two months to persuade federal courts to delay the rules. Industry groups also have filed suit, and they, too, struck a quiet pose at the hearing.

Jeff Holmstead, the EPA's air chief under President George W. Bush and now an industry lobbyist with Bracewell & Giuliani in Washington, D.C., said that power plants, refiners and others understand that they must work through the federal agency to ensure that their permits are in compliance.

"Individual companies want to build things," he said. "If the only way to build things is to work with (the EPA), they will do that."

Holmstead said 25 or so companies with permit applications in Texas are caught in the middle of the permitting tug of war. He said it's possible that one or two will receive permits, "but if I am betting, I would say none" because there hasn't been enough time to digest the new rules.

The EPA has said it is trying to prevent a de facto construction moratorium in Texas by seizing the state's permitting authority for greenhouse gases. Without federal intervention, new power plants and other industrial facilities would not have valid permits, officials say.

"The proposed rule fills a gap that would otherwise exist in Texas, smoothing the transition to a legally compliant permit program," said Peter Zalzal, an attorney for the Environmental Defense Fund, which supports the new rules. "EPA's actions provide Texas businesses with vital regulatory certainty to unleash capital investments and provide Texas citizens with critical health and environmental protections."

Dozens of Texans also praised the EPA's efforts at the hearing.

Ginger Simonson, a Flower Mound resident wearing an American flag scarf, told EPA officials that it was their legal duty to regulate greenhouse gases if the state refuses to comply with the federal Clean Air Act.

"It is not about states' rights," Simonson said of the stance taken by some Texas officials, including Gov. Rick Perry and Attorney General Greg Abbott. "It is about protecting corporate rights. It's clear that no political will exists to mandate the pollution controls to clean the air."

State Rep. Lon Burnam, a Fort Worth Democrat, told the gathering that he will ask Perry and Abbott to stop the legal fight and to help bring regulatory certainty to businesses.

"The Lone Star State is a wonderful state to live, but we are often the lone outlier when it comes to cleaning the air," he said.